Court publishes order terminating RFR’s leasehold on Chrysler Building

The New York State Supreme Court published an order late last month memorializing the termination of the RFR Holding ground lease at the Chrysler Building at 405 Lexington Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan, three months after the court’s Justice Jennifer G. Schecter initially ruled against RFR Holding and seven months after the lease termination date set in the ruling.

The fee is owned by Cooper Union, the university based in the East Village.

RFR Holding, led by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, bought the ground lease and two other properties in 2019 for about $150 million in total, with about $75.5 million allocated to the ground lease. Then on September 26, 2024, RFR sued Cooper Union, which is the case that led to the ruling terminating the lease. The lawsuit was filed one day before the lease was officially terminated, on September 27, 2024.

The New York Post and others have reported on the lease termination, but the change was not yet reflected in any public record.

Case 158973/2024 LINK

This is the first public record explicitly declaring that RFR no longer has any ownership stake in the property. City property records do not yet reflect the termination of the RFR Holding lease, as of this article publication date.

The order also notes that RFR Holding owes Cooper Union $18.8 million in back rent and other expenses.

The order says, in part, “…the Lease has been duly, properly, fully, and completely terminated as of September 27, 2024 (the “Termination Date”), and shall be of no further force and effect, except to the extent that the Lease provides for any of its provisions to survive termination, and that, as and from the Termination Date, Plaintiff holds no right, title, or interest to or in the “Premises” identified and defined in the Lease, comprising the “Land” and “Buildings” (as defined in the Lease) located at 405 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10174 (hereinafter, the “Subject Premises”), and has no legal entitlement to possess, manage, or exercise any control over the Subject Premises…”

The property

The office building in Grand Central has 1,035,307 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 205 feet deep with a total lot size of 37,525 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C5-3 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the Individual Landmark. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $391.6 million.

Prior sales and revenue

The 1,035,307-square-foot property generated revenue of $78.3 million or $76 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page.